Hit back at Trinamool’s ‘atrocities’, ultimate goal to win power in Bengal: Shah (Roundup)

Kolkata, Sep 11 (IANS) BJP president Amit Shah on Monday asked party activists to give befitting reply to “atrocities” of West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress’ atrocities and said the party would achieve its “ultimate goal” when it forms the government in the eastern state.

Urging state Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and activists to keep working towards the growth and betterment of the party, Shah said despite the massive expansion of the organisational base in recent years, it was yet to reach its saturation point.

“He said the BJP has seen a lot of growth in recent years, but has not reached its saturation point yet. The ultimate goal of BJP would be to form government in states like West Bengal,” BJP state General Secretary Sayantan Basu told IANS after a closed-door party leaders’ meeting addressed by Shah at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations auditorium here.

Shah, beginning his three day tour to Bengal, said sky is the limit for BJP and claimed that the party can think it has touched the sky once it succeeds in forming the government here.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said Shah asked party activists to give a “befitting reply” to the Trinamool Congress’ atrocities and urged them not to get disheartened.

“He has asked us to hit back whenever the Trinamool commits atrocities and not get disheartened. He asked the party workers to narrate instances where they were able to give befitting reply to the state’s ruling party. We have paid Trinamool back in their own coins and would keep doing so in the future,” said Ghosh, after coming out of the meeting.

According to sources close to BJP, Shah directed the party activists to stop complaining about problems and start working towards its growth at the booth level in Bengal.

Ahead of the party leaders’ meeting on Monday, Shah paid floral tribute to Swami Vivekananda at his ancestral house in north Kolkata on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of his famous Chicago speech.

Ghosh, BJP national General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, Union Ministers S.S. Alhuwalia and Babul Supriyo were present at both the programmes.

The Trinamool, however, ridiculed Shah’s visit to Swami Vievekananda’s house, and accused the party of placing the iconic ascetic on the same pedestal with late Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Deen Dayal Upadhyya.

“On the one had they are going to his residence to honour Swami Vivekananda… and garlanding him and at the same time… Upadhyaya and Vivekananda are being placed on the same pedestal… This is unacceptable,” said Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee.

Chatterjee also accused the BJP of trying to create another Godhra like situation in Bengal to win the coming elections.

“They are trying to create another Godhra here. Otherwise they would not be able to win any election. However there is no chance of such unrest in Bengal. No matter what the small, medium and big BJP leaders say, the people of West Bengal and Trinamool Congress would not be provoked,” he said.

Rebuffing the allegations, Ghosh claimed there would not be a Godhra like unrest anywhere in the country if the BJP is in power.

In a bid to give a push to his party’s big political ambitions in Bengal, Shah is visiting it for the second time in five months. He earlier spent three days in the state in April and kickstarted his booth level public interaction programme from north Bengal’s Naxalbari – the birthplace of the Maoist movement in the country half a century ago.

On Tuesday, Shah would interact with party workers from different districts, who have allegedly been victims of political violence unleashed by the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress followed by an intellectuals meeting at the same venue.

He is also slated to hold a meeting with members of the Merchants Chamber of Commerce at a five star hotel in central Kolkata on the last day of his three day tour on Wednesday.